So England march on to the quarterfinals with a dominant, but at times, stodgy, performance. They’ll face tougher challenges and the Wallaroos next weekend will test their defence. But this was some showing from the dominant forwards who rumbled and steamrolled and monstered the South African pack.
It’s been a treat reporting on the live blog for you. I hope you’ve enjoyed it.
Below is my report on the game.
I’m off to doze. Catch you next time.
And the final word from England’s coach, Simon Middleton:
I’m thrilled. I think the way we adapted our game through the match, we got the basics right, eventually. After a nervy start it was great to see the players settle down and the way they got control of the game and got control of their nerves. The second half they were a bit more expressive and played more into the space. You can see they can play a bit when they open up.
I thought the media reaction was ridiculous after the France game. And pretty disrespectful to France. There were a lot of nerves because everyone knew what was at stake. We won that game categorically. We ticked some real boxes today that we worked on through the week.
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